


Tree-Walkers

by FaeriArchive (FaeriMagic)



Series: Calculator Chronicles [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Gen, Nymphs & Dryads, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-11
Updated: 2012-04-11
Packaged: 2020-07-08 19:37:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19874971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaeriMagic/pseuds/FaeriArchive
Summary: The first chapter was deleted from my calculator, but I FOUND IT IN MY GOOGLE DRIVE.I got a creation date too, so now I can date it as 2012 rather than 2019. :'D





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter was deleted from my calculator, but I FOUND IT IN MY GOOGLE DRIVE.  
> I got a creation date too, so now I can date it as 2012 rather than 2019. :'D

In the year 5683, Earth was a very bright place. The Earth’s entire surface was purely inhabited by humans (due to extreme population growth), with all the animals relocated to a large, artificial, but realistic, continent named Animalia. Life on Earth was rather peaceful, as everybody went about with their own personal lives, with much help from many digital assistants.

New inventions are made every week, and technology is abundant, and yet demanding. Then, the S.I.F.F. Corporation makes a revolutionary decision.

The National Digitary, the most popular electronic newspaper, announces in an electronic voice:

“ **Kerkus Ensten, an employee of the S.I.F.F. Corporation, has been granted permission to create the first artificial human that is not a clone. Ensten, with an astounding IQ of 236, is delighted to be awarded with the important employment, as he enjoys science a great deal.**

**This project however, has created a lot of controversy among people, some even believing it immoral. Ensten argues, “Ethics have little to do with science. Science is discovering and questioning. Not doubting. So leave me in peace so I can create history.”**

**Ensten will be granted his own personal laboratory at the S.I.F.F. Headquarters, where he will be given the equipment needed to conduct his experiments. In the meantime, activists will continue protesting for who knows how long.**

**This article was written by Kit Springer.**

* * *

Kerkus Ensten banged his hand on the counter. It was seven years since he undertook the project of creating another human and things were not going his way.

He had painstakingly researched and conducted his experiments in his lonely lab with only the occasional protester at his window. It was a lonely life, here in a lab surrounded by dozens of computers and vials.

Putting together a human was no easy task and he constantly wondered how in the world were females able to make humans for hundreds of generations.

So far, he had succeeded in making the brain cells, lung cells, kidney cells, all the vital organ cells. Yes, the human would soon be complete, in about three more years or so. But the hardest thing was making the heart cells. It was the most difficult thing to create. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he researched, it always resulted in a cold, hard, unresponsive cell. Dead.

It really frustrated him. His life’s work was at stake here! Did this human wanted to be created or not?

* **You’ve got mail***

It was his computer. The email ping was created by humans around the second millennium or so. Kerkus adored antiques. It always wondered him how they were made.

This is also why he paid $156 for that one email ping. Compared to people at that time, that would have been a rip-off. Compared to people nowadays, that was _cheap_ , especially for an antiquely electronic jingle.

“Read it.” He said. It was going to be the worst mistake of his life.

* * *

“To Kerkus Ensten,” The computer said. “Seven years. Seven years ago, we gave you permission to create the first artificial human. We knew you would be the right person to do it. You were the genius of the century, no proof needed. For seven years, we have waited eagerly for the finished product. But there was none.

“We have realized our error. The thought of creating such a thing would be unethical. How would it be raised? Who would bring it up? How would it take the fact that it was the result of an experiment?

“We have decided to let go of the mission. Let go of the past seven years of wrongful hope. You are released from continuing this experiment. Please leave the lab, so someone else with bright ideas will be able to build their invention. You are not fired. You are moved to Group Five, which is currently working on controlling the weather. We hope you will be happy there. Merry Christmas.

The S.I.F.F. Corporation”

* * *

Kerkus yelled in anger.

“Seven years.” he gritted his teeth. “Seven long, painful years. This was the product of seven years?!”

He smashed a blood sample vial. He didn’t care. His life’s work was over. No, his life was over. He saw no point in living, now.

 _Seven years_. That thought kept on rushing through his head. Seven years lost and wasted.

He gathered all the Petri dishes and vials and flung them against the window. The window didn’t break; it was shatterproof. Some of the vials and Petri dishes spilled their contents. Kerkus opened the back door and flung the cursed Petri dishes as far as he could.

“The S.I.F.F. Corp is a _XXXXXXX_!” he cursed vehemently.

“ **Watch your language, mister.** ” The computer scolded in a motherly tone.

“Shut up!” he yelled. It obeyed, as do all good computers do.

Kerkus turned off all the lab lights and went home, still outraged and furious.

The next day, Kerkus Ensten died of heart failure.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems like I had two different drafts for chapter 2, so I merged them together.

But this is not the end of the story, even though Kerkus had died.

He threw those Petri dishes with an unintentionally good aim.

Some of the dishes slammed against an oak tree and opened. The contents spilled onto the protruding roots and under the cool white moon, something miraculous took place.

* * *

The Petri dishes were flung out into the woods, landing with a crash. Some of the cells were still alive, some perished and never returned.

The stomach cells were one of these unfortunate ones. As were the intestines and the lung cells.

Splattered among the moss and rocks were the odd jellies, with the bizarre masses of the clumps of cells, still whirring with activity.

The brain cells: _Think! Operate! Maintain!_ But there was nothing to operate or maintain. It was just there, operating for no purpose.

The kidney cells: _Identify! Filter! Protect!_ But filter what? Protect what? It didn’t know; it was just…there. Was it alive? It wasn’t sure.

And so, among the surviving cells, they were there. All important individually, and yet, so useless. But they didn’t know. They couldn’t. They were just separate entities, having a purpose when all together, but when alone, they were completely lost. And they would continue operating senselessly until they decayed into the earth.

In the middle of this living chaos was the heart. Cold, hard, and unresponsive, it was already dead. It had been denied of life before it even had life.

It was a moonlit night. Christmas Eve was bare. The air was stagnant and dead. A leaf fell from the tall oak and onto the clump of brain cells.

One minute passed…five…

The brain cells reacted with the foreign substance. _Enemy! Enemy! Danger! Danger! Send antibodies!_ But no antibodies came. The brain, upset with this defiance, sent the command so many times, each in greater intensity, that the clump of cells started glowing a queer color.

Because of the mixing of the brain cells and the leaf, and under the moon’s light, something happened that perhaps violated all of the known laws of science.

The brain cells glowed, the winds, which were just silent, picked up and carried the rest of the surviving cells up.

The cells merged together around a single leaf that caused this phenomenon to occur.

* * *

The contents of the Petri dishes glowed an unearthly green light.

They fused together to create a form.

The form, still glowing, stood up. In the core of its body was an oak leaf that fell down from the tree the day before, an unimportant leaf at the time.

The form stopped glowing. It looked up at the moon.

It is at this precise moment it opened its face and body to the light.

It was a person.

A green person.

A green person with spiky hair and arms that had tiny leaves jutting out.

No, it was clear that this was not a person, it was a plant, at least not a plant that anyone knew.

"Master.." The thing spoke. Kerkus Ensten had died at the exact time this creature was born.

The creature was free to do whatever it pleased. But what?

It asked its mother, the oak tree, which was not born with walkable roots.

 _You are my son?_ She asked. _Well, alright. My heartwood is open to anything except the lord of fire._

"The lord of fire?" It spoke, its voice like a rustle of leaves.

_The lord of fire is like a thousand suns, it's strength is greater than our gentle sun. I cannot explain, for all the knowledge I get from my kin, I am still ignorant. But that is alright for I have the wind and the rain to accompany me to ignorance. If you want to know, ask the Tallwalkers. They have a word on everything._

"Where can I find them?"

_Everywhere. They have taken over the lands like pests. They clear our homes to grow some of theirs. They have boulders that move that makes horrendous sounds. But if there is one strange trait, it is that each of them uses a different word to call themselves. It is called a 'name' and each name is different. If you must speak with them, then you must have a name._

"A name?" It mused. "I shall have to think about it. Thank you for telling me all these things, mother."

 _Of course_. 

It set off in search of a name and to find the Tallwalkers.

* * *

The sun rose over the bare winter hills.

But It didn't know about winter. At least not yet.

Ah, the sun felt so good. It could feel its body tingling and It felt satisfied.

It heard a roar. A harsh roar.

"Probably those boulders mother talked about?" It climbed over the hill.

And it saw a horrible sight. Creatures were walking around and, when placing their paws on the tree, the tree began to flicker, then disintegrate, then they disappeared completely. The harsh noise was a large machine that rolled out shiny rock. The grass disappearing, the trees, the forest, It panicked.

"Stop!" It cried. "Stop doing that!" It ran towards the creatures.

The creatures widened their eyes in fright and backed away.

"You hurt my kin? Why?" It asked. Its knowledge of the Tallwalkers' language was little so it spoke in the tree language, which unfortunately sounded very menacing to the Tallwalkers' ears.

They fled, leaving the tree human alone and bewildered.

 _Now, look what you did,_ grumped the tree behind it. _I had a one-way ticket to paradise, but you ruined it for me._

"What? But I saved you from those horrible creatures!"

"You saved me from imaginary bloated coffee makers, that's what! Now leave me alone so I can sulk in peace."

It sadly walked away. Hurt. Confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm confused too. why the heck did i mention coffeee makers thats so random
> 
> edit: i thought i had more chapters, but i can't find them right now


End file.
